Keystroke Loggers Found on Library Computers

Below:

Next story in Security

Identity thieves can lurk in the unlikeliest of places, including
your local library.

Police in a posh suburb of Manchester, England, have issued a
cybercrime alert after they found keystroke loggers plugged into
computers at two libraries, according to the
Manchester Evening News.

Keystroke loggers look similar to USB
drives, and capture all keyboard activity while they are
plugged into a keyboard port (often located in the back of the
computer).

A typical logger looks inconspicuous – if it’s noticed at all.
But when the owner returns for it, the stored information – which
could include e-mail passwords and
bank account information – is theirs for the taking.

Two loggers were seized by library staff, while a third was
missing, the newspaper report said.

Investigators have ordered staff at these two particular
libraries to conduct frequent checks to make sure no keystroke
loggers are on any computers.

Graham Cluley of the security firm Sophos believes that such
attacks will continue, given how cheap and easily they can be
carried out.

“With human nature being what it is, and the cheap price and easy
availability of hardware keyloggers … it’s unlikely that we’ve
heard the last of similar identity thefts on public computers,”
Cluley wrote.